The Boston Celtics were blown into pieces at home by the Detroit Pistons, 116-103. In a match which was supposed to be a routine win of the hosts, things went in the opposite direction. The guests from the Motor City shot 60.3% in this one, marking the season-high.
Derrick Rose had 22 points as a starter, missing just two of his 13 shots from the field and adding six assists. This is the seventh straight match with 20 or more points for the youngest MVP ever, and he has tied his personal-best. D-Rose orchestrated Detroit’s offense perfectly, always finding a way to hurt the Celtics.
“Derrick Rose was tremendous tonight. I thought he was the best player on the court,” said Brad Stevens during the on-court interview.
🌹 D-Rose DIMES! 🌹
20 PTS (10-12 FGM), 6 AST for Derrick Rose gives him his 7th straight 20-point game! #DetroitBasketball pic.twitter.com/fySuyKPPdD
— NBA (@NBA) January 16, 2020
The game was decided in the last period, but the Pistons indicated that the momentum was starting to move onto their side midway through the third. Back then, the guests made a 10-0 series, which pushed the guests to an 82-73 lead, creating a massive swing for them. Dwane Casey’s team won this sequence 34-23.
Svi Myhailiuk drained a half-court three to close this part of the game, and to boost the morale of his team. Unfortunately, one of his teammates didn’t get to see this superb move.
“I was in the bathroom. Hydration,” Rose told the reporters laughing.
Nevertheless, the real deal came in the final frame when Pistons completely knocked out Boston. After five minutes of play, Detroit made a 17-5 run to close this one and to calm down the atmosphere inside the TD Garden.
The Pistons had four players with 20 or more points.
One of the youngest players in the league, the 15th pick from this year’s draft Sekou Doumbouya, was marvelous in this event. He would end the night with 24 points, shooting 10-for-13 from the field, all that in 27 minutes.
Markieff Morris scored 23 buckets, 9-for-14 from the floor, and Myhailiuk with 21, five threes among it. As usual, Andre Drummond had a double-double 13 points and boards each, but with 7 assists and three steals.
Boston, on the other hand, didn’t play well at all, as they kinda stopped in the third quarter. Up until that point, the Celtics were trading buckets with the rivals, but suddenly deflated and stopped. Whether it was because of their poor performance or Detroits’ excellent game plan, we wouldn’t know, but hosts’ coach did credit the guests following the contest.
“I told the team this before the game — I told the team this after the game. I love Coach Casey. I love his teams,” Stevens said.
Gordon Heyward scored 25 points, shooting 11-for-15 from the game, Jaylen Brown had 24 with 12 boards, and Kemba Walker 19. The Celtics were shooting just 60% from the foul-stripe hitting 12 of their 20 attempts.
Also, they made 9 downtown hits in 28 tries.
Up next, Boston (27-12) has a big game in Milwaukee against the Bucks already tomorrow, meaning that Brad Stevens somehow needs to erase this loss from his players’ heads pretty quickly. After that, Boston has three consecutive games at home, one of them against the Lakers.
As for the Pistons (15-27), they continue their road trip against the Atlanta Hawks, and after that head, for Washington to meet the Wizards. Following those two contests, the Pistons play six of the upcoming seven matches at home.
Nikola Velickovic is a sports journalist who loves to write and read on all sports. Nikola contributes both news updates and functions as a sports breaking news writer at WagerBop.
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